


The different steps between disaster and perfection

by Greru_to_die



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-09 00:19:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greru_to_die/pseuds/Greru_to_die
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marco moves to a new town where he knows no one in order to make his last two high school years. There he meets Jean, his friend, or maybe something more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A stupid loser

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Y Así Un Pésimo Año Pasó A Ser Perfecto](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097181) by [Greru_to_die](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greru_to_die/pseuds/Greru_to_die). 



> ok horrible shitty summary .-. sorry I'm horrible at that type of things.  
> This is my first work in english so I'm a bit scared... it's not my first languange so they'll be lots of mistakes. Sorry for that u.u I'd be glad to correct them if you point them out, so don't hesitate. All kind of comments are welcomed aswell.  
> I'd like to make some things clear before starting this as it's written based on the spanish educative system:  
> -They're 16 and are attending their last two years of high school before they go to University (they are not compulsory, only if you want to continue studying)  
> -They don't have a driving license  
> -The legal age to start drinking is 18, but they don't respect that any way XDD  
> That's all for now! hope you enjoy!  
> oh, I almost forgot. The original story is not finished yet and I'm doing both the transalation and it at the same time appart from my schoolwork so I'm sorry but I'll probably take long to update, sorry DD:

First high school day. It was just as great as I thought it’d be. Everywhere I looked there was people. A lot of people. I couldn’t start panicking because of this. Take a hold of yourself Marco, this were just the students, they’re not going to eat you. I was standing outside the building, just in the entrance and doubting if I should go in or not. Really, this was just awful. I knew it wasn’t anything special, every high school did this ‘welcoming talk’ just a few days the real beginning of classes, but I never went to one as I attended to the small school in my hometown where we were so few students we didn’t even need them.  
I looked around again. Everyone was in little groups with their friends. Everyone except me. I was the only stupid loser who decided to go to a completely new school in a completely new town to do my last two high school years. I wanted to ‘start from cero’ and ‘act as myself and not because of what people expected me to do’. Yeah, I really was a stupid loser. Somehow I felt like everyone was looking at me as if I was out of place there. Was it my freckles? Was it too obvious I wasn’t from here?  
I glanced at my surroundings once again and a short girl with black, straight hair caught my attention. She wasn't especially stunning or dressing strangely, what made me stick my eyes on her was the fact that she was alone. I let out a sigh in relief, not that I was expecting to be friends with her right away, I actually didn’t even planned on talking to her. I was just glad she was also all by herself, I felt some kind of company in our mutual loneliness. She was checking her phone and I copied her, scrolling on my contacts and hoping someone had written me a message. Nothing. All of my friends were in the same situation as I was in, although they all had someone they knew by their sides, unlike the stupid loser.  
Every now and then I took a look at her to see what was she doing. I really didn’t know what should be done in this kind of situation so I needed someone to copy and I chose her. When she turned back to enter the building I noticed her hair was tied in two loose pigtails. I hurried and followed her from a safe distance so she didn’t notice me. One inside, I felt as if I was going to drown in the middle of the crowd. The little groups that could be distinguished outside were now altogether in the lounge, so it rather looked as an enormous than as lots of little groups. Well, an enormous crowd and me. I leaned against the wall, watching the scene as if I was in the cinema and searching for the short girl with black hair. Oh shit.  
She was waving at two boys that approached her. I was now totally all by myself. Having nothing else to do, I just looked at them and what they did. They two boys were quite the opposite one from the other. The tall one had a straight face and looked pretty annoyed by all of what was happening, while the short one was barely higher than the girl and had a pretty round face with big eyes. I looked away before they could notice I was staring at them and suddenly all of the people who were waiting in the lounge started moving in the same direction and I followed the students, well I was more likely being carried away by the crowd than moving by myself. A few minutes later I found myself siting on a wooden seat inside what looked as an assembly hall which also worked as a theatre. On the stage, the headmaster and the rest of the teachers were sitting behind a table. I looked around once again to place myself and nearly panicked when I saw the tall friend of the girl I followed siting right at my side. With a quick glance I could see he had his hair shaved in the lower half and it had to colours, clear on the top and darker on the shaved part. I wondered if it was dyed or natural, but I couldn’t really say what of them the reality was. I also noticed he had an earring on his left ear, the one looking at me. It looked well on him, I must admit. I feared he felt my gaze, so I quickly turned my eyes to the stage and looked as headmaster Smith introduced himself and the rest of the teachers. After the first few minutes I grew bored at the talk and started staring at my feet as if my shoes were the most amazing thing on the world. My mind drifted away and I ended up listening to nothing about what was said in that room so I hoped it was nothing important.  
By the time it ended, I was only hoping to go out of that place. Finally, my wish was granted and I stood up as fast as I could, which was too fast. I immediately bounced back to the seat. Stupid chain. I was wearing my favourite black jeans and with them I always wore a little chain a friend gave me as a birthday present. It got stuck at the worst places, always. It somehow was trapped in the seat and I couldn’t get it out. The tall boy stood now besides me and I could feel his eyes peering at me and I could swear I saw a grin on his face as he watched my pathetic spectacle with the chain. Nervous, I ended up pulling too much and the chain broke. As soon as I was free to move, I almost ran to the entrance to get away of all of this situation.  
If I hadn’t been too busy trying to find the quickest and shortest route outside I would’ve listened the little laugh the tall boy let out when he saw the hopeless look in my face as I took my broken chain and the ‘oh’ and the surprised on his face when he saw the badge of my (and his) favourite band pinned to my backpack.  
Classes started a few days after that horrible day and I arrived about fifteen minutes earlier. I took my time to check my locker opened and threw all of my books inside it. When I arrived to my classroom it was still closed and there were at least five minutes left before the lessons began. Besides me there were just two boys, a blond one and a brunette, that were waiting for the teacher to show up. More and more students gradually gathered around the door yet to be open by the teacher, who arrived a few minutes past the hour. As always, people rushed to get the last seats. I simply walked like a zombie and dropped at a place next to the wall and more or less in the middle. Unsurprisingly, no one seated in the one by my side. I buried my head in my hands. I hated first days. I was sleepy and didn’t know anyone. Even inside the classroom people still had friends while I was alone.  
And the worst part was yet to come. I hated people to notice me and I didn’t want to stand in front of everyone when the teacher said my name. It was embarrassing and I usually was the first one due to my stupid surname starting with B. Luckily for me some ‘Ackerman’ and ‘Arlert’ were first and they didn’t get up, just raised their hand.  
“Marco Bodt”  
That was me. I did just as my classmates and then buried my head again between my hands, but I still let an eye out. In the end, I was curious about how my classmates were. The great surprise came when the boy sitting in front of me lifted his head when the teacher said “Jean Kirschtein” Can you guess who he was? Yes, the tall friend of the short black-haired girl. I guess I could call him Jean from now on.  
Besides this nothing special happened. We got to now nearly all of our teachers and I spent most of the classes looking at Jean. It wasn’t as if we had some sort of relationship or we knew each other from that day, he surely didn’t even remember my face. There was just something in him that attracted my sight. The day ended as boring and plane as it started and the fact that I could make a single friend didn’t help in one bit. The next day will be better. I continued to repeat that in my head as if it was some sort of spell. Somehow, it worked.

We had sport today, but I couldn’t remember the timetable just from one day to another so I just dressed up in my casual clothes which were, according to the teacher, ‘unacceptable to wear when having sport, not even the first day’. I just nodded while he expressed his disappointment at my clothing and then I headed towards the concrete seats that were at the side of the court and sat there to find out I wasn’t the only one with a bad memory. Here he was, the tall friend, Jean Kirschtein. I’m not one to talk a lot, so I just sat at his side close enough for him to talk to me if he wished, but far enough for it not to be uncomfortable. We stayed like that for a while, but it was obvious by how he looked at me every now and then that he wanted to start a chat. I could’ve said the same for me, but I was far too shy to start talking to him so it was him who broke the silence.  
“You are that Bodt guy, aren’t you?”  
I nodded as an answer, suddenly nervous for some reason I didn’t get.  
“Jean Kirshstein?  
“That’s me” he replied with a grin and I pulled out a little smile at him. ”Guess neither of us has a very good memory” he continued and I nodded again.  
“Just an evening is too little to remember our timetable, but I’m actually glad I didn’t bring my sport clothes” we both looked at our classmates, running as if some kind of wild beast was after them and the teacher still yelled at them to run faster.  
“They look like having a great time” he said with sarcasm.  
“The class is going to smell awfully now” I gasped in horror and turned to look at Jean and found him staring at me with a dead serious face.  
“Save me the seat at your side for the rest of the day” I stared at him in amusement.  
“Sure, no one was going to take it anyways”  
“You sit alone? I thought everyone in class were already friends, well, all except me”  
“Yeah, I actually don’t know anyone here…” I let the end of my sentence float into the silence between us and saw him open his eyes in surprise.  
“Wow, you have guts to do that. No one? Really?”  
“Yup, totally on my own” I smiled proudly, although in the inside I was actually insulting me and my stupid decision to come here alone.  
“Well… I do have a few friends in the high school, but we are all in different classes.” I wanted to answer him that I knew he had friends and who his friends were, but I thought it was wiser to just shut up and mumbled an “oh, that’s great” realizing too late that I ended our conversation without intention. A few minutes of comfortable silence after he broke it again with something I wasn’t expecting at all.  
“So, ehm this may be strange but… you are the guy who had the Three Days Grace badge on his backpack the first day, aren’t you?” When I looked him my face was the visual description of terror. Did that meant he had noticed me? Soon that terror turned into shame and I went totally red and ducked my head in my knees. So that must mean…  
“Did you saw the thing of the chain?” I peeked over my bent legs and found him smiling, surely remembering that morning’s events. I groaned, still ashamed and horrified, which made Jean laugh a little.  
“Yeah… sorry about laughing. I just… it happens to me a lot too. Stupid chains” he gave me a sided smile out of sympathy and took his own chain (which I hadn’t noticed yet) between his fingers to show it to me as a proof that he knew what he was talking about.  
“So, do you like Three Days Grace?” I asked in a desperate attempt for my dignity not to fall even further.  
“Like them? I love them! They were the first band of, let’s say rock music, I listened to. Thanks to that I have a far better music taste now than before” He laughed and so did I, finally lifting my face, a little bit less embarrassed.  
“Did you copy my life or something?” I made a pause to make sure to see the confused look on his face. “The same just happened to me. I saw them in my youtube recommendations and I loved them for the very first moment”  
That was more or less how we spent the rest of the P.E. class. Talking about music and our favourite songs, laughing sometimes and enjoying the comfortable silence the others. Sooner than I liked to, the bell rang, putting an end to the lesson. The teacher approached us and complained for like ten minutes about our clothes and shoes (yet again). Whatever he said, for me, not bringing clothes for sport that day was the best decision of my life.  
Just as I promised, I saved the seat next to mine for the next lesson and he stayed there until we had to return home at two. He talked all day, only stopping when we had a sudden laughter attack which was especially hard and we had to shut up to breathe again. Well, we also stopped when the teachers looked angrily at us and threatened to send us out of the class if we didn’t close our mouths. That day I crossed the gate with a smile, the first time in three since I first stepped in that high school. But we didn’t stop talking even then. We stayed with each other until we were too hungry not to go home and get some food. So we just waved goodbye and walked towards our respective homes.  
I already said I had to change towns to come to this high school, didn´t I? Well, my parents couldn’t move because they had to take care of their bakery at our home town, so I really was on my own. I lived on the dorms the school had, just a few blocks away. It was really nice and comfortable. They rooms were shared and had their small bathroom. Two beds, two desks and a big closet for me and my roommate. It wasn’t much, but enough. Bertholdt was the name of the boy living with me. He was extremely tall and one year older than me. We still hadn’t talked too much, first because we hadn’t been together for too long and second because he was extremely shy.  
When I went in he was studying and we just acknowledge each other with a quick nod and a smile. During all of the afternoon and evening I tried to concentrate in my work, the book I was reading or a film without thinking about Jean and perfect it was to get to talk to him. I totally failed and couldn’t keep myself from remembering all of what happened with a smile on my face until I finally went to bed with the thought that I was no longer by myself anymore.


	2. First date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just Jean and Marco going out, as friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is, second chapter yay!   
> sorry for the delay if there's anyone following this .-. I'm trying my best here...  
> feel free to leave comments.  
> Comment  
> COMMENT  
> oh yeah, sorry for the crappy english

‘Would you like if we went out?’ Those stupid words continued to fill my thoughts all day until I saw Jean downstreet, approaching for the bench I was sitting on. I suddenly grew terribly nervous, my heart beating faster than it should and my breathing being way too heavy for the situation. Why was I even like this? Yes, I’ve always been the kind of person to get insecure when meeting people and yes, it was the first time I was going to see Jean outside school, but it should be fine. There’s nothing to worry about, calm down Marco, calm down. It’s just Jean, Jean the one that always sat at your side at class, Jean the one you spent all of your breaks with, Jean the one I texted the most every day, Jean the one that was coming towards me while my heart beating hadn’t settled yet. You have to relax, I repeated to myself over and over again, but it was even worst. He appeared in front of me suddenly.  
“Hey Marco”  
“Polo” Wow Marco, amazing. That was the most intelligent thing you could’ve pulled out. Really, you’re getting the Nobel prize for that one.   
He looked at me with an unamused face and I think his eyebrow twitched. He said nothing and sat by my side, obviously too surprised at my incredible intelligence show off.   
“Mina has music class so she can’t come and Connie is out with that Sasha girl of his class. I think he is into her.” Oh yes, I forgot, I wasn’t meant for us to meet on our own. During the two weeks that had gone by since the classes began Jean introduced me to the short black haired girl, Mina, and the baldy boy, Connie. It was Friday and we still were pretty free, so that day during break Jean suggested us to go out that evening, well he actually said it to me. After all the puns and jokes about the ‘going out’ thing, Jean said it again, inviting all of us but specially looking at me saying that I’ll have to socialize more and meet people. Maybe I was relying too much on him. I made a mental note to talk more with my roommate.   
“So it’s just the two of us?” It was really a stupid question after what he said, but I felt like I had to say something. He just nodded and looked at me directly.  
“Yes… you don’t mind, don’t you?”   
“No, I will never complain about spending my time with you.” I smiled and I saw the corner of his lips curl a bit upwards in a practically inexistent smile and his shoulders bended a bit downwards in a more relaxed pose. I liked how he slightly changed his attitude when he was around me. Even with Connie and Mina he always looked a bit tense and with an eternal angry look on his face. I was kind of proud of myself it was that way.  
“So, do you have any idea of what we could do?” He asked, pushing me out of my thoughts about him.  
“I’m the new one here, you know better what could we do in this city”   
“How about me showing you the city?” he asked with a smile after giving it some thought.  
“Perfect”   
Just as I ended the word he stood up, grabbed my hand and pull me of that bench, making me stand at his side. He scanned the area, as if he was a robot looking for enemies and then his face lit up in a way that was spelled ‘idea’. He started running in some direction and grabbed my hand again, well, more like my sleeve. He started running through the city. Wide and narrow roads. Places full of people and place where there was hardly no one. He started to slow his pace when we reached a residential area full of small old houses. After walking a little while we ended up in a small park. Well, it wasn’t even worth being called a park, it was more just like a small public garden. A little corner covered with bright green grass and a pond with water unexpectedly clear and a fish fishes that swam lazily, but it was really pretty and I finally got to calm my heart when I sat next to a smiling Jean that looked at me in expectation.   
“Welcome to Kirschtein Park” he said with a wide genuine smile. The first one I saw coming from him, but not the last.   
“You own the park?” I cocked an eyebrow at him, just to piss him of a little. He blushed a bit and replied halfway through anger and embarrassment.  
“It’s not like I own it, you know what I meant jeez” he sighed and looked at the sky “it’s just a pretty place I like and looks like no one else appreciates it so…”  
“So you named it after you” I nodded and smiled at him   
“It’s a good place for those times you feel like getting deep and thinking about life”  
“Wow, I didn’t expect that from you”  
“It sometimes happens when you have a heavy argument with your family”  
I was surprised by that, he didn’t look like one to have a lot of family troubles. “Do you have them a lot?”  
“Well, not a lot, just sometimes.” He made a pause to look at me and shrug “I’m not really one to control myself when I’m angry and I don’t want to hurt anyone if things get too bad...”  
“Oh” I didn’t knew what more to say, so I just looked at him and buried my face in my knees as we slowly drifted into a strangely comfortable but at the same time uncomfortable silence. He somehow felt it too so he hoped and lend me a hand (yet again) for me to get up.  
“Well, let’s go to the next stop on the Kirschtein touristic tour.” He said with a grin, not letting go of my hand when I was on my feet.  
“Do you name everything after you?”   
“Just the things I like” He said it fast, pronouncing pretty badly so that I couldn’t understand him fully, but, unluckily for him, I had a pretty good hearing so I caught all of it. Naturally, I blushed. So he was liking this… I felt my chest strangely warm at this thought, but just let it be. I was having a great time, there was no reason for him not to be doing so too.   
We were running through the city once again, I didn’t bother to try and remember in what direction we went or even to focus in my surroundings. I just let my feet move following Jean’s ones, being leaded in the right direction by the arm that was grabbing my sleeve. I sometimes bumped into people and mumbled an apologize, but couldn’t I stop myself from smiling as I did so, somehow it felt like a dream. It was like an illusion, I had the feeling it wasn’t really happening, but at the same time it all felt too real.   
He suddenly stopped in front of a small and cute café and I crushed into his back, hitting my nose with the back of his head. I hadn’t noticed our height difference until now, and, as I breathed I surprised myself discovering how nice Jean’s hair smelled. He told me to be more careful with a grin and I answered him that it was his own fault for stopping in such of a sudden. He just tsked me and entered the café and I followed him immediately.   
“Welcome to the taste paradise” He said as we seated at a table near the window, looking at the street illuminated with the evening’s dim light. I cocked an eyebrow at him and he just grinned as a waitress approached us and asked what we would like to have. I had more or less an idea of what I was going to order, but as soon as I opened my mouth Jean leaned a finger on my lips to my (and the waitress) surprise, shutting me up.   
“We’d like a mocha frappe for me and a vanilla milkshake for him” He politely smiled at the girl and she nodded after writing our order, looking a little bit nervous. As soon as she walked away, I started complaining about him doing what he did, but I had to shut up when I tasted the milkshake and discovered it was one of the best if not the best thing I had ever had the pleasure to eat. Jean seem to be enjoying more the fact that I liked what he ordered for me than his actual drink. He didn’t stop looking at me and I eventually blushed violently when that horrible sound announced I had finished my drink. And he was only halfway through his.  
We spent there all the time we had left, talking and laughing even after we had finished what we wanted long time ago. I tried to keep my attention focused in Jean and the present, but I couldn’t stop myself from drifting away every once in a while. Was it only me or this looked like a date? The two of us alone, he grabbing my hand as we walked, placing his finger on my lips! It really was like a date! My breath was going mad again. Stop, Marco, calm down. There’s nothing wrong. He is just a friend, maybe a touchy friend and no, you are not liking the fact that it is.   
When it was fully dark outside we decided it was time to get going and we finally paid and left the table, giving the waitress who had been staring at us in anger for like fifteen minutes something to smile about.   
“Well, let’s move to the last stop of Kirschtein express” He said, smiling mysteriously once we stepped out of the café and on to the now-less-crowded street.   
“Is there still stations left?”  
“Only one” he turned his back on my and started walking just to look at me again “the best one” He continued walking then in the direction of, if I wasn’t mistaken, the river. “Well, if my parents don’t interrupt us” he added without turning around this time.   
Now I was looking forward for whatever the last stop was. I followed him, quickly reaching him and walking by his side, our shoulders nearly touching. This time he didn’t grab my hand or run, he just continued to put one feet in front of the other, calmly, until we reached one of bridges that crossed the river.   
When we were in the middle he suddenly stopped and I nearly bumped into him again, but this time I reacted faster. Not saying a word to me he walked towards the edge of the bridge placing a hand on my back to gently push me with him.   
He leaned on the railing, head resting on his hand and looking at the river with shiny eyes. I followed his gaze and couldn’t stop my mouth from hanging open. It was beautiful. That was the only word I could describe it with. The flat black water of the river reflected the lights of the city that started to waken when the sun hided in the horizon. The lights danced on the river like ballerinas on a flat stage only shaken by the eventual chill breeze that brought me Jean’s fragrance. The lights also reflected on his eyes, like a smaller and more beautiful version of what I had in front of me. Each time he blinked it was like a curtain hided the scene to show afterwards an even prettier sight.   
I cannot really recall when my attention drifted completely away from the river and when I started to focus on how soft and silky his hair looked when it waved under the wind and how his face started to look like a painting masterpiece, admiring each and every detail of it. His usually slightly frowned brow now more relaxed, his eyes half-open because of the breeze that hit the, his jaw relaxed and the overall sensation of him being totally in peace. I smiled. I liked seeing him in that situation and I liked it was only me how could see it. Wow, that was creepy. First thinking this was like a date and then this? Marco, what is wrong with your head? I shook it, trying to eliminate the thought that came to me for just a second. The thought of him being handsome right now.   
Luckily for my and my stupid mind, Jean’s phone rang. Pushing us back to reality and away from the lights ballet. It was obviously his mother, screaming angrily about how late it was and why wasn’t Jean home yet. She was screaming so high I wasn’t sure if I heard her voice from the phone or directly from her house. With each second, Jean’s frown hardened until he hanged up.  
I looked at him with fear in my eyes. I didn’t want to leave him just now and, as stupid as it may look, I had no idea about where were we or how to go back to the dorms.   
“Were are you staying?” He asked, surely guessing my situation.  
“At the high school’s dorms, in Trost building”  
“Oh, yeah, I know. I’ll go with you. It’s on the way to my house”  
At that moment I felt as if he was an angel that just appeared in front of me. I smiled in gratitude and continued to mumble thanks until we reached the dorms, well, more like until half-way where he finally kicked me softly on my calf, annoyed but laughing. We were mostly quiet until we parted ways with a smile at the dorms front door. Neither of us wanted, but Jean had to go home when his parents called for the second time, ever angrier than before. I’ll have to make up something to thank with all of the trouble he has gone through this evening.  
And that’s how the first evening I spent with Jean went. The first and confusing evening with Jean, although the most confusing part of all of it was the night, when I couldn’t stop myself from recalling what happened and grinning stupidly as the thought of it being a date gaining strength on mi mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was actually really hard to translate my bad puns from spanish to english wow, translators, I admire your job.   
> Hope you enjoyed it!  
> have a nice day or whatever time you're reading this XDD


	3. A less lonely idiot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeey sorry for the delay! I'll try and update faster now that I have a few days free... but I don't promise anything. Enjoy, I guess... this is basically a"sweet" chapter I wanted to write before I started all of the drama so go ahead and read

Up the stairs, across the corridor and down to my door. Key in the keyhole, turn it and open. I dragged myself in, not bothering looking if Bertholdt was there of if he was with someone. I barely lifted my feet from the floor and dropped onto my bed with a deep, tired sigh. Just then did I hear that characteristic snap of two pairs of lips breaking apart. I frowned to my pillow, not lifting my head yet.

I should’ve knocked before coming in.                                                                                      

“Long day?”

The nervous and embarrassed tone was pretty noticeable on his voice. I should’ve knocked before coming in. Something was obviously wrong with my mind when I turned my head to see him, well, them. I should’ve knocked before coming in. My eyes met a heavily flushed Bertholdt that seated between the legs of a pretty strong blond boy which I presume was Bertholdt.

A week had already gone by since my date? Meeting? Evening? I still don’t know how to classify it, with Jean. Remember I made a mental note to talk more to my roommate? Well, believe it or not, I do make what I propose myself in my mental notes. Thanks to that, I discovered that Bertholdt was (unsurprisingly) shy and quiet, but really polite. His enormous height and the way in which he intensively sweat had made him go through a pretty hard time most of his life, especially when he was in elementary school. Thanksfully he always had Reiner by his side. They had been neighbours for as long as they could remember and they were practically always together. Reiner was his best friend in elementary school, during the first years of high school he had been virtually his brother and, finally, they officially started dating this past summer. I had to admit it was a terribly cute story and yes, I was a bit jealous of Bert (he told me it was fine for me to call him that way). Not in the sense of me wanting to be in Reiner’s place, but in the sense of wanting to have that type of romantic relationship with a heart-clenching story. Jean’s face shamefully crossed my mind when I started to think about a candidate to be that person to share my life with. I shook my head. No strange thoughts, Marco. He’s your friend, your brand new and only friend you cannot loose, so stop it right away.

“Marco?” Both of the guys that seated on Bertholdt’s bed looked at me with an interrogation mark drew on their face. I hadn’t even realized I was spacing out until the black haired one said my name.

“Yeah… pretty long day…” I let out another deep sigh. I was sighing a lot today. “And Jean didn’t make it any easier, by the way…”

Today during break he got into a fight with some guy in our class called Eren Jaeger. If I hadn’t pulled him away on time it would have ended in a fist-fight, but we were lucky enough and they just declared eternal enmity on each other. But no physical violence. He never told me what got him that worked up.

“Wait. Jean? Jean Kirshtein?” It wasn’t Bertholdt who talked, but a deep voice by elimination must’ve be Reiner’s. “That horse-face guy that walks around as if everything pissed him off?”

“Yes… that Jean” I seated up as I talked, knees pressed against my chest and chin lying on them. I didn’t really liked that description of him, but I guess he actually fit it. He did had a sharp angled face, but he wasn’t that similar to a horse and yes, he usually was very grumpy, but if they made a little effort to know him better they could see him smile and laugh as he did when he was around me. “You know him?”

“It’s not like we’re very close or anything, he’s in the football team with me” He still looked surprised by the fact we were good friends “I thought that guy was always alone…” He let his voice fade into the silence and then abruptly turned towards Bertholdt, that still rested on his lap. “You know we’ve got to do?”

“Please tell me you’re not thinking what I know you’re thinking”

“It is”

“Please, tell me you’re thinking about the weather”

“Nope”

“Oh no…”

“Ehmm, excuse me, what are you talking about?” I ended up asking, not getting anything of what they were saying, or rather, not saying.

“A Reinerparty” They both answered simultaneously, Reiner with excitement and Berhorldt rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

“A stupid party where everyone gets horribly drunk” Explained my roommate before his boyfriend even opened his mouth.

“That’s the idea, Berty”

“Quit it with that nickname”

“Berty Berry”

“Stop”

This was beginning to be uncomfortable once again. Their words turned into tickles, tickles into caresses and caresses to kisses. If I could, I would’ve disappeared into mist, but unluckily, I wasn’t Dracula and I was way too tired and lazy to walk away. I returned to my lay-down position, burying my face in the pillow and trying to ignore the love noises coming from the other bed. While I was at it, my mind started to drift away into the previous conversation –which was pretty effective as a noise-muffling method. Why was Reiner so surprised about me being friends with Jean? He wasn’t the most popular boy in high-school, that’s true, but he had Mina and Connie before he met me. I felt my face redden a bit. If they just tried they would know him like I did, or even better. I closed my eyes and faced the wall, sighing for no special reason, when I heard Jean’s voice. Wait. Jean’s voice? Was I hallucinating?

“Hey! Marco! Marco! It’s Jean here, down in your pan-pocket! C’mon, answer, I’m not spending my whole day at the phone for you. Marco! Oi, Marco!”

No. Way. I’m going to kill him. And revive him. And kill him again. My face was as red as a radioactive tomato. Even Reiner and Bert had stopped kissing and looked at me with something between extreme laughter and surprise. I was so going to kill him. With clumsy hands, I searched for my phone in my pockets and stumbled across the room after getting trapped between the sheets and blankets of my undone bed. I managed to pick up when I went out in the corridor and greeted him as he deserved.

“You are dead”

Muffled laughter answered. “Didn’t you like it? I thought you’d appreciate the detail…”

“I repeat: You are dead”

More laughter, He didn’t even try to cover it this time. I couldn’t refrain myself from smiling this time.

“Anyway, what did you call for?”

“Oh, yes, it was for the Biology project”

“Oh shit”

“Yeah… I know… but we don’t have exams this weeks, so it’d be better if we finish and get rid of it now.”

“Yes, of course, where do you want to meet?”

“The library in half an hour sounds ok?”

“Sounds great”

Reiner and Bertholdt went out of the room, the blond one hugging the other one by the shoulders, just like when I last saw them on the bed but now standing and walking. Their lips were pretty much redder and swollen and Bertholdt had a deep blush. I was glad I had walked out of that room.

“Ehm, Marco” the taller man called out quietly “We’re going, I guess I won’t return tonight, so don’t wait for me.”

I nodded and they walked down the stairs after a wave, probably heading towards the blonde’s house. As they did so, Jean continued talking on the phone, saying things I wasn’t really paying attention to.

“… See you in the library, then”

“No, wait, my roommate just left so, If you want we could do it here… only if you want.” I laughed nervously at that proposal. What was that even for? It’s nothing strange, just inviting your friend to do a project at your room. It’s just work and it’d be more comfortable here –or should be. “I mean, we could talk louder and that… but if you prefer the library it’s fine too”

“Don’t worry” I heard a soft chuckle “I’ fine with that, actually like it better than the library. What was your room number?”

“23, first floor”

“Ok. I’ll be there in ten minutes”

He hung up then, leaving me staring blankly at the phone’s screen as it went black. I had to change that ringing tone. I didn’t want Jean’s voice coming from my pants and telling me to pick up every time someone phoned. It’d be too easy to make Jean-got-in-your-pants type of jokes. Don’t blush Marco, don’t blush is too pathetic to blush all by yourself just because of a stupid joke. I blushed. I sighed. And I entered my room shutting the door quietly behind. There was nothing left to do except to wait so I dropped myself again onto the bed and grabbed my book to try and read something. I couldn’t go further than a few pages. The thoughts about Jean coming here and spending the evening with me filled my mind and made my hands sweaty and my heart beat faster. Just like the other day in the street. I tossed my book aside seeing as I wouldn’t get any reading and instead I tried to sleep or something, digging my head in the pillow. I shouldn’t be so nervous and I shouldn’t be checking my watch every two seconds to see what time it was and wondering when was he going to appear. Someone knocked on the door sooner than I expected –even though I checked every moment if someone had knocked and I didn’t hear them- and I breathed and told myself to calm down.

“Come in, it’s open”

Steps rushed in and I heard the door closing with a slam after him. He was just so delicate. I lifted my head from the pillow, ignoring my more than just a bit messy hair and yawing when I run a hand through it.

“Taking a nap, are we?” He said, grinning at me.

“I couldn’t get to sleep…” I got up and stretched in a pretty clumsy and not at all cat like way while taking Bertholdt’s chair to put in next to mine in front of my desk. “I don’t want to do this…”

We both dropped on our seats at the same time and I looked at him with puppy eyes. I really didn’t want to start thinking about biology now.

“Don’t look at me like that, we have to do it” He poked my ribs with his fingers and I clenched, it was actually painful. “I even brought some random books I found that said ‘Biology’” as he said so he started taking them from his bag and putting them on the table. They were so big I feared it would break and I’d had to pay for another one. But it luckily didn’t.

“Ok, let’s get over with this” I rubbed my eyes to try and wake up a bit, but it didn’t help in the least. Whatever, I was going to do this whether I wanted it or not.

We both straightened in our chairs and got serious. We were going to do this. Somehow we managed to get a lot of energy from nowhere and started looking through the books Jean brought, rejecting those that had nothing to do with the invertebrate’s nervous system. My laptop buzzed when the books finally run out of new information for us and we started scrolling on the internet find new things. I was amused at how hard we were working, especially considering how boring the topic was. I always gave my best to any project, but Jean didn’t look at that type of person to me. Everyone has their surprises, I guess.

Hours passed by and the room grew darker at the same speed I lost concentration. I rubbed my eyes so hard it nearly hurt and I could hardly stay with my mouth closed, yawning all the time. My gaze drifted away from the laptop screen where I was supposed to check any errors Jean made and I started to look down to the keyboard, where he typed furiously, fingers moving quickly from one letter to another whenever he wasn’t running a hand through his hair in a desperate act of trying to stay awake. Small sweat droplets flew away every time he did so, evaporating before landing. I rubbed my eyes once again, trying to focus on the project and not in Jean’s hair. It moved like grass when a smooth breeze flew. I involuntarily breathed in harder than I should, drowning in Jean’s essence. It was soft, but manly, strong and… seductive…

My thoughts were going in that direction again. This is dangerous, Marco, stop it. You don’t want to ruin this. You know him from just a few weeks. You don’t want to fuck this up, so stop it right now right here. I felt a connection with Jean I had never experienced before and I wasn’t going to ruin it just because some butterflies in my stomach, sweaty hands and a running heart.

I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate in invertebrates of annelids, flatworms and all type of animals without backbone; so I just stretched my arm, tapping the wall in search of the light switch. When I turned it on I had to shut my eyes closed. I hadn’t noticed how dark it was until then, with my eyes hurting because of the light. I heard Jean let out a small surprised and painful scream when light penetrated his pupils after hours being fixed in the laptop’s screen, but I couldn’t see how he dug his head in his elbow to hide his eyes. I did listen to, however, all of his swearing and what a painful death he wished me and all of my ancestors. When I could finally adapt to the new light and see something, my eyes were regarded with the cute sight of Jean rubbing his sore eyes like a small kid. Adorable. He blinked a thousand times before he was able to focus his sight on me. Even more adorable. Stop Marco.

“What about eating something?” I asked him, more to stop thinking than because of actual hunger.

“Great! I’m starving” Jean smiled, he looked as if he had just seen god before his eyes.

“There are vending machines in the hall. Is that ok or…?”

“Perfect” He didn’t even let me finish my sentence and he already was opening my room’s door and heading for the staircase that connected with the hall. I followed him, smiling at his desperation for food and picking the keys so we wouldn’t be locked outside when we came back. It barely took us ten minutes to buy four bags of m&m’s, kick the machine because they wouldn’t fall, call someone in uniform to fix it, see as a total of six bags fell when he opened it and run away with them before he noticed we had took two for free.

When we closed the door behind us we could barely breathe from laughter and running upstairs. We tossed our food onto my bed and then we threw ourselves on top. As soon as he landed on my soft mattress, Jean emptied a whole bag of sweets on his mouth. God was he hungry. I couldn’t help but laugh madly when I saw him, his cheeks full like a hamster and struggling to chew without choking. I tried to ignore that voice in the back of my head that kept repeating that it’d be better if it wasn’t chocolate that filled his mouth and opened myself another bag. I think I need psychological help.

“Am I right assuming we will stop the project for today?” I started eating like a normal person and looked at the time in my phone. It was already something past seven. He tried to answer something, but he still couldn’t talk, mouth full of m&m’s, so he scribbled in a random paper he found on the floor.

“If we continue I will chop the teacher’s head off tomorrow, so it’s better to leave it like this.”

“Poor Petra… she’s not that bad…” He swallowed.

“She sent this project for next week, week we have full of exams. She’s a bitch”

When he said “bitch” a yellow sweet flew from his mouth and hit me right in between my eyebrows. Frowning a bit and trying not to laugh I threw another one at him, which landed in his mouth, opened because of him laughing.

“The food in your mouth not on my face” I tried to continue with my serious face, but it was too hard. He looked at me in full surprise at how I managed to get the m&m in his mouth. It wasn’t that difficult, though, we were pretty near, no big deal.

“Now’s my turn!” He kneeled on the bed in front of me and took one of the coloured chocolate discs between his thumb and finger.

“What?”

“My turn to shoot one of this at you. It was too cool when you did it!”

“Ehm ok…” Still confused, I kneeled too and opened my mouth, feeling my cheeks hotter.

“Ready?” I nodded “Fire!”

He threw it at me, too strong and too high. It came directly to my right eye, which I luckily closed in time.

“Softer”

“Fire!” He threw another one, taking my advice and doing it softer. It landed between us and didn’t even reach me.

“…Harder…”

“Fire!” He threw another one. How many sweets did he plan to waste doing this? This one hit me on the corner of my lip, he was getting better.

“Good, now aim at the centre”

He furrowed his brow and prepared another colourful missile, closing an eye and calculating the distance as if this was really some serious thing.

“Fire!” This time it did hit my mouth and he used the correct amount of force. The m&m collided painfully with my front teeth, making my body bend forwards automatically because of the pain that shot down my spinal cord.

“It was your fault this time!” Jean said loudly while laughing and trying to give me an angry look “You should’ve opened more your mouth”

“What did you expect? I’m not a blow-up doll!” I replied automatically and flustered in embarrassment immediately afterwards. I looked up at Jean to see his reaction and only caught a glimpse of his deeply blushed face before I found myself being bombarded in m&m’s as he screamed “fire!”

He didn’t stop even when he finished the first bag and he quickly opened another one, it was as if he wanted to bury me in colourful chocolate discs. Just as it had happened a few days ago on the bridge, a call from his parents asking him to return home made our sweet moment end.

He tried to run away, making excuses about his parents being angry with him if he was late, but I made him stay. He wasn’t going to leave me with all of that mess to solve on my own. Rather, I wasn’t going to let him going away without making him eat at least half of what he’d thrown at me.

He left when my bed was clean enough and I could see him run towards his house across the park in front of the dorm. Shortly afterwards I received a text from him saying that he’d forgotten his jacket here. A quick glance at my chair was enough to confirm it and I replied saying that I would give it to him tomorrow. After I pressed the “send” button I wondered if it would be better to keep it and have his scent with me forever. Wait. Why would you like to have his scent? Wake up Marco, that’s creepy. Who wants his scent? I don’t.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> meh that's all!   
> as always, opinions, kudos and whatever are welcomed aaand this is my tumblr in case ou want anything from me http://grelly-sutcliff.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Hope you liked it!  
> If for some reason you want to contact me my tumblr is grelly-sutcliff  
> have a nice day!


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